Discharging contents from a container while filling the same with gas

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a bottle for containing liquid content including a body portion, at least part or the entire portion of an upper portion of which is provided with a plurality of guides which protrudes inward from an inside surface thereof and is in a spiral pattern so that the liquid content can be guided towards an opening of a neck portion of the bottle while spirally revolving inside the bottle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.12/741,869, filed on May 7, 2010, which is a national stage ofPCT/KR2008/007261, filed Dec. 9, 2008, which claims the benefit ofKorean Application No. 10-2008-0123344, filed Dec. 5, 2008, in theKorean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a bottle for containing liquid contentstherein, and more particularly to a bottle which can stably dischargeliquid contents through an opening by making the contained liquidcontents smoothly flow along a plurality of guides arranged in a spiralpattern.

2. Description of the Related Art

At present, beverages, such as water and colas, liquors, or liquid-typefood, are contained in various kinds of containers. Examples of suchliquid containers are paper bottles, PET bottles, glass bottles, andmetal bottles (aluminum cans).

Of these containers, the PET bottle is the most popular liquid containerthanks to its many advantages, such as that it can contain contents fora relatively long time, i.e. contents in the PET bottle barely decayafter a long time of storage because gas transmittance of the PET bottleis very low compared with other kinds of containers, it hardly breakswhen it is dropped in a state in which it is filled with contents, itdoes not produce broken pieces even when it is ruptured, and it isconvenient to carry and keep the PET bottle because the PET bottle islighter than a glass bottle.

The known PET bottle having the above advantages is generally composedof a neck portion which has an opening at an end and threads on an outersurface thereof for sealing when the neck portion is combined with acover, and a body portion extending from the neck portion and containingcontents therein. The body portion may be of various sizes and formsaccording to the type of contents.

There are ways of discharging the contents of the PET bottle. Forexample, when a user tilts the PET bottle to pour the contents into avessel, such as a cup, or to directly drink the contents from the PETbottle, the contents are discharged from the PET bottle.

In such a case, there is a possibility that the contents contained inthe body portion of the PET bottle are not smoothly discharged but areabruptly discharged at excessive pressure, so that the contents arelikely to gush out of the PET bottle and to splatter on a user's clothesor the surrounding area. In particular, when the user directly drinksthe contents from the bottle, the user may choke or his or her clothesor body may get splashed.

Further, since the bottles have large volumes even when they are empty,it is difficult to deal with the empty bottles or it is required toinstall additional equipment in households to reduce the volume of theempty bottles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to accomplish the above and other advantages there is provided,in one exemplary aspect of the invention a bottle for containing liquidcontents including a body portion, at least part or the entire portionof an upper portion of which is provided with a plurality of guideswhich protrudes inwardly from an inside surface of the body portion in aspiral pattern so that the liquid contents can be guided toward anopening of a neck portion of the bottle while spirally revolving insidethe bottle.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the entire body portion ofthe bottle is provided with the plurality of guides which protrudesinwardly from the inside surface of the bottle in a spiral pattern. Inanother exemplary aspect of the invention, a section of each of theplurality of guides has a shape of the letter ‘C’ or a reversed letter‘C’ when each guide is cut across its width, and a curvature of eachguide be uniform over a portion of its length or change in a manner suchthat a curve of a leading portion is relatively gentle and a curve of aback portion is relatively tight.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the plurality of guidelines have four or eight lines of spiral patterns. In another exemplaryaspect of the invention, the bottle can be a paper bottle, a PET bottle,a metal bottle, or a glass bottle. In another exemplary aspect of theinvention, each of the plurality of guides takes a form in which a widthof a lower portion is larger than that of an upper portion. In anotherexemplary aspect of the invention, each of the plurality of guides has auniform width at the upper portion and the lower portion.

As described above, according to another exemplary aspect of theinvention, the bottle is provided with a plurality of guides having aspiral pattern winding around the body portion of the bottle so thatliquid contents in the bottle can be stably guided toward and dischargedthrough the opening of the bottle while spirally revolving inside thebottle. Since the abrupt gushing of the liquid content is prevented, itis possible to safely pour and drive the liquid contents from the bottleand to prevent splattering of the liquid contents attributable to theabrupt discharge of the liquid contents from occurring.

In the case in which the bottle is used to contain a beverage, such aswater, cola, or juice, since the flow of the beverage is moderate, it ispossible to prevent accidents such as the user choking. In the case inwhich the bottle is a PET bottle, it is possible to reduce the volume ofthe empty bottle by applying external force to the empty bottle afterthe contents have been emptied so that the bottle is twisted as theplurality of guides is compressed. Accordingly, it is easy to disposeand recover the empty bottles.

It is an advantage of some of the above exemplary aspects of theinvention that a bottle is provided with a body portion provided with aplurality of guides arranged in a spiral pattern so that liquid contentscan be smoothly and stably discharged through an opening of the bottle,while spirally revolving inside the bottle.

It is another advantage of some of the above exemplary aspects of theinvention to provide a bottle which can prevent liquid contents fromgushing out of the bottle so that a user can safely pour or drink theliquid contents, and it is possible to prevent contaminationattributable to a violent gushing of the liquid contents from occurring.

It is a further advantage of some of the above exemplary aspects of theinvention to provide a bottle provided with a body portion which can beeasily twisted by external force when all of the contents have beenemptied, so that the volume of the bottle is reduced to the maximum.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obviousfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to oneexemplary aspect of the invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional views taken along line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to anotherexemplary aspect of the invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are sectional views taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to afurther exemplary aspect of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view and a section-enlarged view for explaininga curvature of a guide of the bottle; and

FIG. 7 is a comparative view illustrating a procedure of disposing ofthe bottle according to various exemplary aspects of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

As described above, when the user tilts a prior art bottle, the liquidcontents are discharged out of the prior art bottle and gas (such as,e.g., ambient air) flows into such a bottle in order to fill a gapcreated by the discharged liquid contents. When the user slightly tiltsthe prior art bottle, the liquid contents tend to not block the openingof the bottle and gas flows into the bottle smoothly and stably. Incontrary, when the user tilts the prior art bottle more and pours theliquid contents out of the prior art bottle more, the liquid contentstend to block the opening of the bottle and, as a result, the gas cannoteasily flow into the bottle. As more liquid contents are discharged, thepressure inside the prior art bottle keeps decreasing. And as thepressure inside the prior art bottle decreases down to an excessivepressure, the gas gushes into the bottle due to the excessive pressure,thereby causing the liquid contents to be unstably and not smoothlydischarged out of the bottle and resulting in abrupt gushing of theliquid contents.

Accordingly, various bottles of various exemplary aspects andembodiments of this invention are designed to stably and smoothlydischarge liquid contents out of the bottles, thereby preventing suchabrupt gushing of the liquid contents out of the bottle.

To this end, various bottles of the present invention are provided withmultiple guides on their inside surfaces and allow the liquid contentsto be discharged along such guides in order to prevent the liquidcontents from blocking the opening. In other words, such guides canfacilitate the gas to stably and smoothly flow into the interior of thebottle and to stably and smoothly fill the empty space left behind bythe discharged liquid contents. Accordingly, such guides can preventsuch abrupt gushing of the liquid contents.

Reference will now be made in greater detail to exemplary aspects of theinvention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be usedthroughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or likeparts.

Hereinafter, exemplary aspects of the invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings through which like elements arereferenced by like numbers. In describing the invention, details on thestructure or function of related arts are omitted if they may obscurethe subject of the invention.

Terms in the description are defined considering functions of elementsof the invention, so that the terms must be construed with reference tothe contents of the present specification as a whole because such termscan be differently defined according to the intents of people skilled intheir arts or customs.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to oneexemplary aspect of the invention, FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional viewsillustrating a section of the bottle taken along line II-II of FIG. 1,FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a bottle according to anotherexemplary aspect of the invention, and FIGS. 4A and 4B are sectionalviews illustrating a section of the bottle taken along line IV-IV.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the bottle of the exemplary aspects of theinvention includes a neck portion 110 and a body portion 120. The neckportion 110 has an opening 111 and a thread 112 to be combined with acover 113 in a screwed manner. Alternatively, the neck portion may becombined with the cover 113 in manners different from the screwed mannerfor ensuring sealing of the bottle. For example, the cover 113 can beattached to or detached from the neck portion 110. The body portion 120extends from the neck portion 110 and contains liquid contents therein.

The bottle 100 having the above-mentioned structure can contain abeverage, such as water or cola, a liquor, a saline solution, or aliquid-type food, and may be made of various materials.

The bottle 100 may be a paper bottle, a PET bottle, a metal bottle, or aglass bottle. According to the aspect of the invention, the bottle 100may be a polyethylene terephthalate resin (PET) bottle.

As shown in the exemplary aspects of the invention in FIGS. 1 to 3, thebody portion 120 takes a form in which a plurality of guides 121 isprovided in a spiral pattern and protrude inwardly from the insidesurface of the entire or part of an upper portion of the body portion120 which is on the upper side of the middle of the body portion 120 ina length direction so that the liquid contents proceed toward theopening 111 of the neck portion 110 while spirally revolving inside thebottle 100 and are then discharged out of the bottle 100. With such astructure, the outer surface of the body portion 120 with the pluralityof guides 121 is depressed in the form corresponding to the plurality ofguides 121.

As the plurality of guides 121 is provided to the upper portion of thebody portion 120 in the spiral pattern, the body portion 120 is wavelikein appearance. Further, a sectional view of the body portion 120 showsthat each of the plurality of guides 121 has the shape of a letter ‘C’or a reversed letter ‘C.’ When the section of the body portion 120 isviewed in the direction in which the contents proceed, the curvature ofa leading portion is relatively loose but the curvature of the backportion is relatively tight. Alternatively, the body portion may take aform in which the curvature is maintained constant.

When the liquid flows in the above-mentioned manner, the curvature of aportion with which the liquid makes earlier contact must be relativelyloose and the curvature of a portion to which the liquid contacts latermust be relatively tight. The portion having the relatively tightcurvature hinders the flow of the liquid primarily and then the portionhaving the relatively loose curvature makes the flow of the liquidslower. The border between the portion with the relatively tightcurvature and the portion with the relatively loose curvature takes astreamlined shape so that the friction with the liquid is reduced. Inthe case in which the curvature is constant at every portion, it is alsopossible to attain the same advantage of controlling the speed of flowof the liquid in the above-mentioned manner.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the plurality of guides121 take a form composed of four or eight spiral lines, but the form isnot limited thereto. That is, the form may be composed of other thaneight spiral lines. Further, the widths of the plurality of guides 121are narrower at a relatively upper area and broader at a relativelylower area.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the widths of theplurality of guides 121 gradually decrease toward the upper area andincrease toward the lower area, but do not change from a midpoint to thebottom of the body portion in length. Alternatively and in anotherexemplary aspect of the invention, the widths of the guides 121 may beuniform over their lengths.

The exemplary aspect of FIG. 1 shows the PET bottle 10 having theabove-described structure. In FIG. 1, the widths of the plurality ofguides 121 in a spiral pattern are uniform over their lengths. FIGS. 2Aand 2B are plan views of the upper part of the body portion of the PETbottle 100, which are taken along II-II of FIG. 1 and viewed from thebottom side. FIG. 2A shows the case in which the number of guides of theplurality of guides 121 is eight, and FIG. 2B shows the case in whichthe number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is four.

The exemplary aspect of FIG. 3 shows the PET bottle 100 having a form inwhich the widths of the plurality of guides 121 decrease toward theupper end but are gradually increased toward the middle point of thebottle from which the widths are uniform. FIGS. 4A and 4B are plan viewstaken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3 and viewed from the bottom side of thePET bottle 100. FIG. 4A shows the case in which the number of guides ofthe plurality of guides 121 is eight and FIG. 4B shows the case in whichthe number of guides of the plurality of guides 121 is four.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a PET bottle according toanother aspect of the invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the PET bottle 100according to this aspect of the invention basically is similar in formand function to the PET bottle shown through FIGS. 1 to 4B. Accordingly,repetitive description will be omitted and only the differencestherebetween will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5, the entire body portion 120 of the PET bottle 100has a plurality of guides 121 protruding inward from the inside surfaceof the body and making a spiral pattern. Accordingly, the entire bodyportion 120 is wavelike in appearance. FIG. 6 is a perspective view anda section-enlarged view illustrating the PET bottle 100 and forexplaining the curvature of the guides 121 provided to the PET bottle100.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention and as shown in FIG. 6,when tilting and pouring the liquid contents, for example cola, in thePET bottle 100, the liquid contents revolve along the plurality ofguides 121 inside the PET bottle 100 and therefore the liquid contentsare discharged with uniform flow through the opening 111. As shown inFIG. 6, a curvature of a portion (b) of each guide 121 which is on theleading side of a midpoint (c) in the direction of the liquid contentsflowing out is tighter than a curvature of a portion (a) which is on theback side of the center (c). That is, the portion (a) has a gentle curveand the portion (b) has a tight curve. As a result, this form preventsthe liquid from being abruptly discharged. FIG. 7 is a comparative viewfor illustrating a procedure of disposing of the PET bottle according tothe aspect of the invention.

In order to more efficiently prevent such abrupt gushing, the guides ofvarious aspects of the present invention are preferably provided in aspiral pattern along a longitudinal axis of the bottles. As a result,the liquid contents tend to be pushed onto such guides due tocentrifugal force while being discharged out of the bottle. Therefore,such spiral guides can preferentially guide the liquid contents closerto the inside surface while maintaining the opening open or unblocked bythe liquid contents, thereby facilitating the creation of air paths forthe ambient air during discharge.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, some of the plurality ofguides may be arranged to have asymmetrical shapes or cross-sections. Inparticular, each of such asymmetrical guides may be arranged to form ashallow portion and a deep portion. As a result, the deep portion mayguide more liquid contents than the shallow portion. Accordingly, byarranging the asymmetrical guides in such a way that the liquid contentsdriven by the centrifugal force are preferentially guided by such deepportions of the guides, more liquid contents are discharged closer tothe inside surface and away from a center of the longitudinal axis ofthe bottles while maintaining the opening open or unblocked by theliquid contents, thereby further facilitating the creation of air pathsfor the ambient air during discharge.

In another exemplary aspect of the invention, the PET bottle 100 iscrushed and distorted by twisting and compressing along the plurality ofguides 121 formed in the body portion 120 of the PET bottle 100. When acompressing force is applied to the PET bottle 100, the middle point ora border between the large-curvature portion and the small-curvatureportion of each guide 121 having the letter “C” shape or the reversedletter “C” shape is folded over a portion of the length of the spiralpattern, so it is possible to reduce the volume of empty bottles. Forthis reason, it is possible to make recovering empty bottles easier.

Although the bottle of the invention has been described in terms ofvarious aspects, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications and variations may be made without departing fromthe spirit of the invention. Thus, the scope of the invention must bedefined by the appended claims and it is intended that the presentinvention covers the modifications and variations of this invention.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in this embodiment without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. A method of stably discharging liquid contents out of a bottle whichincludes a body portion and a neck portion, wherein said body portiondefines an enclosed interior space and has an inside surface and whereinsaid neck portion extends from one end of said body portion and thenterminates at an opening through which said liquid contents aredischarged when said bottle is tilted, said method comprising the stepsof: extending a plurality of guides along a longitudinal axis of saidbottle by protruding inwardly into said body portion from said insidesurface; arranging said guides in a spiral pattern around said axis;tilting said bottle; and discharging said liquid contents out of saidbottle through said opening while guiding said liquid contents alongsaid guides, thereby allowing gas to stably flow into said interior ofsaid bottle through said opening and away from said guides during saiddischarging for said stably discharging.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said allowing includes the step of allowing ambient air to flowinto said interior of said bottle.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid stably discharging includes one of the steps of: minimizing abruptdischarging of said liquid contents out of said bottle; preventingabrupt discharging of said liquid contents out of said bottle;minimizing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle;preventing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle;facilitating said allowing said gas to stably flow into said interior;and maximizing said allowing said gas to stably flow into said interior.4. The method of claim 1, wherein said extending includes one of thesteps of: starting said extending from another end of said body portionwherein said another end is opposite to said one end; starting saidextending from about a middle of said body portion; and starting saidextending from a location of body portion, said location closer to saidone end than said another end.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein saidterminating includes one of the steps of: ending said extending on saidopening; ending said extending proximate to said opening; and endingsaid extending in a preset distance from said opening.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising the steps of. performing said protruding insuch a way that cross-sections of at least some of said guides haveasymmetrical shapes each having a shallow portion and a deep portion;and performing said guiding in such a way that more amount of saidliquid contents are guided by said deep portion than said shallowportion, thereby enhancing said stably discharging.
 7. A method ofstably discharging liquid contents out of a bottle which includes a bodyportion and a neck portion, said body portion defining an insidesurface, while said neck portion extending from one end of said bodyportion and terminating at an opening through which said liquid contentsare discharged, said method comprising the steps of: extending aplurality of guides along a longitudinal axis of said bottle byprotruding into said body portion from said inside surface; arrangingsaid guides in a spiral pattern around said axis; and discharging saidliquid contents out of said bottle through said opening while guidingsaid liquid contents toward said opening along said guides, therebyallowing gas to stably flow into said bottle through said opening duringsaid discharging for said stably discharging.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein said allowing includes the step of allowing ambient air to flowinto said interior of said bottle.
 9. The method of claim 7, whereinsaid stably discharging includes one of the steps of: minimizing abruptdischarging of said liquid contents out of said bottle; preventingabrupt discharging of said liquid contents out of said bottle;minimizing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle; andpreventing gushing of said liquid contents out of said bottle.
 10. Themethod of claim 7, wherein said stably discharging includes one of thesteps of: facilitating said allowing said gas to stably flow into saidinterior; and maximizing said allowing said gas to stably flow into saidinterior.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein said extending includes oneof the steps of: starting said extending from another end of said bodyportion wherein said another end is opposite to said one end; startingsaid extending from about a middle of said body portion; and startingsaid extending from a location of body portion, said location closer tosaid one end than said another end.
 12. The method of claim 7, whereinsaid terminating includes one of the steps of: ending said extending onsaid opening; ending said extending proximate to said opening; andending said extending in a preset distance from said opening.
 13. Themethod of claim 7, wherein said stably discharging includes the stepsof: discharging said liquid contents along said guides and closer tosaid inside surface; and preventing said opening from being blocked bysaid liquid contents, thereby creating a gas path for said gas to stablyflow into said bottle.
 14. The method of claim 7, wherein said stablydischarging includes the steps of: discharging said liquid contentsalong said guides in said spiral pattern; subjecting said liquidcontents to a centrifugal force; and preventing said opening from beingblocked by said liquid contents under said centrifugal force, therebycreating a gas path for said gas to stably flow into said bottle. 15.The method of claim 7 further comprising the steps of. performing saidprotruding in such a way that cross-sections of at least some of saidguides have asymmetrical shapes each having a shallow portion and a deepportion; and performing said guiding in such a way that more amount ofsaid liquid contents are guided by said deep portion than said shallowportion, thereby enhancing said stably discharging.
 16. A method ofstably discharging liquid contents out of a bottle and simultaneouslyallowing gas to flow into said bottle which includes a body portion anda neck portion, said body portion defining an inside surface and saidneck portion extending from one end of said body portion to terminate atan opening for said discharging and for said allowing, said methodcomprising the steps of: forming a plurality of guides by protrudinginto said body portion from said inside surface; extending said guidesin a spiral pattern around a longitudinal axis of said bottle; tiltingsaid bottle for said discharging said liquid contents proximate to saidguides; and allowing said gas to flow into said bottle away from saidguides during said discharging for said stably discharging.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein said gas is ambient air.
 18. The method ofclaim 16, wherein said discharging includes the step of: subjecting saidliquid contents to a centrifugal force created by said spiral pattern,thereby pushing said liquid contents closer to said inside surface andminimizing said opening from being blocked by said liquid contents. 19.The method of claim 18, wherein said flowing includes the step of:creating a gas path for said gas extending from said opening to aninterior of said bottle and away from said inside surface for saidstably discharging.
 20. The method of claim 16 further comprising thesteps of. performing said protruding in such a way that cross-sectionsof at least some of said guides have asymmetrical shapes each having ashallow portion and a deep portion; and performing said guiding in sucha way that more amount of said liquid contents are guided by said deepportion than said shallow portion, thereby enhancing said stablydischarging.